


Nocturne in G Minor

by swallowthewhale



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 11:06:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4826762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s no one’s fault but his own that Ryan let four years of college pass by without ever mentioning to Kelsi exactly how he feels about her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1440

1  
High school isn’t kind to a boy with a domineering sister whose obsession for pink consumes those around her. If things had gone differently, Ryan could have had more than one friend. He would have tried out for the baseball team and asked to choreograph the musicals and taught dance classes to little kids at the rec center if Sharpay hadn’t commandeered all of his time to rehearse for auditions and practice being superstars.

But then he might not have ever been friends with Kelsi.

Kelsi was compassionate enough to continue to invite Ryan to sit with her at lunch when Sharpay was absent and ask him to help her polish off new songs even after Sharpay turned dictatorial and tried to turn Kelsi into a human jukebox. Ryan knew it hurt Kelsi to have a lifelong friend to suddenly regard you as little more than a stepping stone to bigger and better places, but somehow Kelsi never really let it get to her in the same way it drove Ryan crazy. She would sometimes find him in the park whipping baseballs as hard as he could, picturing Sharpay’s face on the tin cans he was aiming at.

He found himself spending more and more time at Kelsi’s house after Gabriella transferred to East High, when Sharpay became insufferably obsessed with getting rid of her. One thing led to another and then they were writing a musical together and he was taking her to prom. Prom was admittedly an unintended result Sharpay’s mind games that led to Kelsi ignoring him for a week after word got out (“Yes, it was Sharpay’s idea, and she had plenty of ulterior motives, but it was a scheme I was more than happy to reap the benefits of.”) He’s not sure if it’s then that he realized, or if it was after it was too late, but Ryan can admit now that if it wasn’t for Sharpay his life would have gone in a very different direction.

Even after all this time, Ryan is sure that no one knows Kelsi better than he does. He knows her favorite composer, and the way she likes her tea, and that she cried for a week when her pet fish died in the third grade, and that she has ambitions just as grand as his own. He knows she never leaves her heart vulnerable.

Which is why it’s no one’s fault but his own that Ryan let four years of college pass by without ever mentioning to Kelsi exactly how he feels about her.

4

Ryan sits in the back corner of the cafe, rain soaked jacket draped across the empty chair to his left and glasses steaming up from the coffee he's warming his hands with. He hopes no one will recognize him and blow his cover, he worked hard to make it there unnoticed and he intends to leave that way too. Over eager fans spotting him at his favorite cafe would ruin the brief vacations he gets to spend in New York. Hopefully the glasses, tousled hair, and casual clothes, so different from his usual appearance, will prevent his newfound celebrity from giving him away. 

He got the email alert a week ago, but seeing the posters advertising the afternoon's feature entertainment plastered over the bulletin board by the doorway had reassured him. Because her picture is right there next to the advertisement for "An afternoon with Beethoven featuring K. Hanne." It had taken him almost a year to track her down once he's figured out she wasn't using Nielsen anymore. He had enough friends in the Broadway circuit to find her easily enough, but Kelsi is a common name, no matter how you spell it, and "short with glasses and an affinity for hats" doesn't narrow it down much.

Then he enlisted Taylor and Gabriella, who don't know much about Broadway but know a lot about computers. Taylor wrote a program to search the Internet for Kelsis and narrow down the search based on occupation and place of birth. And that gave Ryan his starting place: a pianist by the name of Kelsi Hanne at The Music Box, where pianists compete battle style for a regular paid gig at the club's sister, the cafe Le Petit Air.

Where Ryan is sitting now. 

4

Kelsi had, of course, learned some classical music when she took piano lessons growing up, but, as most children do, she thought they were boring and not useful as anything other than a way to lull herself to sleep at night. But in Julliard there were entire courses dedicated to the history of the classical composers. Kelsi had fallen in love with performing the classic repertoire and while she continued to compose for new musicals and young artists during the day, her evenings were always dedicated to the classics. 

When she told Ryan that she was going to perform at a festival for classical music sophomore year, he had laughed and reminded her how she used to fall asleep playing that same music at the ladies luncheons at Lava Springs in high school. He also went to every single one of her performances until senior year, when there always seemed to be something he insisted was more important. Kelsi would have understood if it didn't happen every week, without fail. And slowly but surely Kelsi saw less and less of him. Their weekly dinners turned into monthly dinners and then into coffee every few months until Kelsi stopped bothering to ask. She hasn't seen him in three years at this point. After Julliard, he had immediately signed on to sing and dance backup for a new pop star. Then a year later he was cast in a movie-musical after which he became an overnight sensation and was scooped up by a recording label. His album is one of the most played on Kelsi's iTunes, though she wouldn't admit that to anyone. 

Her last piece comes too quickly, and Fur Elise is simple enough that she allows herself to peek at Ryan. He's reclined in his chair, eyes closed, hands folded over her stomach. She almost breaks her composure to smile because it's exactly how he always sits at every concert. He insists that appearances are a distraction to the music; she'd always thought that was ironic coming from a dancer. She knows he saw her though, she could feel his eyes burning into her when she walked in. And she knows he came for her.

Kelsi keeps her eyes firmly on her papers after a taking small bow. Sometimes people come up to talk to her afterwards, and a lot of the regulars like to invite her to have a coffee with them after the performance is over, but she knows she'll be refusing tonight. Ryan hasn't moved from his table, but his eyes are on her, hands wrapped around his mug. Kelsi shivers and tugs her sweater tighter. There was a time when Ryan looking at her like that made her blush and shy away. Now it sends terrifying tingles down her back. Ryan had plenty of time to tell me if he felt anything more than friendship, she reminds herself. So that look doesn't mean anything more now than it did then.

Kelsi briefly wonders if hiding in the kitchen until Ryan leaves would get her out of having to talk to him. But she dismisses that idea quickly. She knows Ryan well enough to know that if he went to enough trouble to track her down that he won't be leaving until he talks to her. And if that means waiting until the cafe closes at 11 then so be it.

She starts to hum along to the song on the radio to distract herself before she recognizes it and stops suddenly in the middle of stacking her sheet music. She had gone with Ryan to see 'Enchanted' in theaters when it came out and two weeks later he surprised her at his recital by changing his song last minute to “So Close” and then watching her throughout the whole song with that look. The one that made her think for sure that he felt the same. But he didn't, because after the recital when she asked why he switched songs while they were walking home arm in arm he said that he had just liked the song. And why would she open her heart up when she knew it would just be broken?

The cafe is emptying out now, and Ryan finally starts towards Kelsi. She turns her back to him to close her eyes and take a handful of shaky breaths that do little to calm her nerves. Tugging the sleeves of her sweater down to hide her trembling hands, she faces him. 

0

“Ryan.”

Her voice catches and she ducks her head to hide her embarrassment. Any dreams of being cool and collected when she finally ran into Ryan again disappeared.

“Hi Kelsi.”

His voice sounds odd. A bit like that time she caught him playing “Everyday” on her piano while he waited for her to finish getting ready for dinner freshman year. But also with that catch of disappointment she heard so many times when his parents said they were going to be in Paris or Dubai or London for Christmas, and sorry Ducky that you and your sister can’t join us.

She breathes through the knot in her chest. “What are you in New York for?” It’s a stupid question, since she knows the answer, but it’s better than why did you leave, how did you find me, and what are you doing here?

“My tour ended and I’m auditioning for some musicals while I’m in town.”

Kelsi holds her breath, waiting for him to ask.

“What happened to us?”

He speaks so quietly that Kelsi instinctively looks up at him. It’s not the question she’d been expecting and it’s not a question she knows how to answer. He looks a little heartbroken and a lot determined, like their relationship can easily be fixed with the right response. Kelsi’s not sure she has one.

“You stopped coming to dinner.” The words are out before she can stop them, and they ended up a little more pathetic and a little less accusational than she might have intended.

He deflates a bit but presses on. “You stopped asking. I know I was busy, but I tried to make time. But then I thought you just didn’t want to hang out with me anymore.”

Kelsi has to physically restrain herself for reaching out for his hand on instinct. She says as gently as she can, “Ryan, I stopped asking because you were never around. I never stopped wanting to be your friend.”

Ryan suddenly stands up straight, eyes soft but piercing. “What if I don’t want to be your friend anymore?”

Kelsi flinches. “I-I-I-” She swallows harshly, “Why did you come here if you didn’t want to see me?”

Ryan’s close enough now that she can feel his breath on her forehead. “I did want to see you, Kelsi,” he whispers. Then he tips her face up with his fingertips, threads his hand through her hair, and kisses her.


	2. Tomorrow's Song

Kelsi’s playing her upright piano in the tiny living room of her apartment, practicing a new composition for tomorrow’s performance. Ryan is lying on the couch with her cat curled up on his chest and a blanket Kelsi’s grandmother knit over his feet. His eyes are closed, relaxed, but he still has one important question.

“Why did you change your name?”

Kelsi sighs and pauses for a moment before resuming her song. “Partially because I didn’t want to be easily found,” she admits. “But I kind of wanted a fresh start too. Kelsi Nielsen was poppy-high school music and I wanted to branch out. It felt weird to have the same name on the page as the person who wrote a song about her goldfish dying.”

Ryan chuckles, opening his eyes to look at her. “How’d you pick Hanne?”

“It was my mother’s name.”

Ryan quiets. Kelsi had lost her mother before Ryan had even met her in preschool. He suddenly remembers Kelsi telling him that his own mother had become almost a surrogate to her. He feels a little queasy for being the one to take yet another mother away from Kelsi.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, closing his eyes again.

The music stops and then a warm body presses between him and the couch. Kelsi carefully leans her head on his shoulder. “You’re back now. That’s really all that matters.”

And Ryan can’t help but agree, because although there’s still so much to work out, he’s finally gotten the most important thing figured out. He can’t live without Kelsi in his life.


End file.
